


The Vanishing Woman

by fullamoxie



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: A Lot of Ghost Sightings Like Four, Dina Mention Because I Love Her But Shes Not In The First Game, Gen, Ghosts, Joel And Ellie's Friendship, Scenes That Take Place In Between What We See In Game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:35:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23940913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fullamoxie/pseuds/fullamoxie
Summary: Ellie and Joel have enough on their plates as they trek across America looking for the Fireflies: infected, hunters, and interpersonal struggles based on past traumas. Things get even weirder when they begin seeing a specter of a woman following them around.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23





	The Vanishing Woman

“Psht, I’m not even tired,” Ellie had bragged, despite the fact that she’d been running and climbing and fighting for two days straight, and her fourteen year old body was incredibly exhausted. She had to brag like that, otherwise, Joel would just think she was a lame kid. Her sole companion scoffed. He knew she was exhausted, and that her adrenaline would wear off soon.

Sure enough, it did, and Ellie found her eyelids starting to droop. She stifled a yawn, trying hard to fight against the exhaustion she felt. It seemed like the harder she tried to stay awake, the easier it was to fall asleep. The rain outside didn’t help, either. She always slept better when it was raining: the gentle orchestra of the rain on her dorm’s window was peaceful. It also did wonders to cover up the sounds of public executions from outside.

Her eyes closed, and Ellie forced them open, pinching her leg to stay awake. She turned to the road, trying to keep herself awake by focusing on whatever they passed by.

Alongside the road, the grass and trees were heavily overgrown. Sidewalks had been completely covered by nature, and it likely had no intention of stopping there. Plants were already beginning to break through the concrete. Ellie stared at the overgrowth, trying to picture what everything would have looked like before the outbreak.

They rounded a bend in the road, and Ellie’s eyes fell upon a woman standing in the brush. She wore bright colors, contrasting with the greys and greens around her, and her face and shoulders were spattered with blood. Although she was a great distance from them, the woman looked familiar to Ellie.

She turned to Joel, but he didn’t seem to notice the woman. He was watching the road ahead, right hand on the wheel, left hand at his temple, humming along to the tape in the old truck’s player. Ellie’s eyes returned to the woman and found her staring back at the two of them.

The woman in the road drew her gun, but didn’t raise it. Ellie’s heart began to beat faster, and she glanced back to Joel, who still didn’t notice the woman. She glanced back to the woman, who was now only thirty or so feet away.

“Joel?!” Ellie said, a hint of panic in her voice. Joel grunted and blinked.

“Hmm?” he replied, yawning.

“Do you not see--” Ellie began, but the woman vanished. She hadn’t vanished like smoke in the sky, it had been more like the woman was there one second, and gone the next. As if she’d not really been there at all. Ellie blinked and rubbed her eyes. Maybe she was more tired than she thought.

“You okay, kid?” Joel said, looking over at her.

“Yeah. Sorry,” she said, turning back to the window to try falling asleep.

* * *

“. . . and just so we’re clear back there,” Joel said, eyes looking at Ellie, then away, then back to her, “it _was_ him or me.” He swallowed, throat dry, then nodded, and was down the ledge a second later. Ellie swallowed too, and turned to the open square. Gathered there were at least a dozen hunters, armed survivors who would stop at nothing to hunt her and Joel down, killing them for their supplies.

Ellie peered through the scope, following Joel’s movements around the battlefield. The old man was incredibly stealthy, which was not surprising-- he hardly ever spoke in longer sentences, which left Ellie to fill the dead air.

Joel dispatched a number of the hunters with ease, but inadvertently knocked an empty wine bottle from a countertop, alerting the hunters to his presence. Ellie remained undetected, and when a hunter came into her view, she fired. She was surprised by how quickly she took to the weapon; nearly every shot of hers hit, and the ones that missed were close enough to disorient the dwindling hunters. 

When she could see no more enemies, she tilted the scope back to her partner, and saw him sneaking up on an unaware hunter. He grabbed the man, choking him out. From behind him, another hunter approached with a knife. Ellie sucked in air and moved to fire at the newcomer, but she knew he was too quick. She wanted to call out to Joel, but he wouldn’t hear from all that distance. Ellie braced herself to lose yet another friend, but then--

The hunter’s head flinched sharply to the side, and he fell over, dead. Joel was unhurt, and unaware of how close he’d come to being killed. Ellie moved the scope around, trying to find her friend’s savior, and soon, she did.

Ellie immediately recognized the woman as the one she’d seen in the truck a few hours (or had it been days?) ago. The same gun-wielding hitchhiker, dressed in a bright-colored button up, brown hair tied back, small pistol used confidently but cautiously. Both times Ellie had seen her, now, the woman looked familiar, but she couldn’t place it. She kept her crosshairs on the woman, just in case, but the woman seemed. . . friendly. Ellie could see that the woman had a bittersweet look on her face. As Joel turned around, the woman vanished as she had before-- there one second, gone the next, as if she’d never been there.

“Alright,” Joel called, and Ellie blinked. She stood, and climbed down to meet with the older man. He was kneeling in the square beside the hunter who’d almost killed him, taking something from the man’s corpse.“How’d I do?” she asked, approaching Joel. He stood, and turned to her.

“How about somethin’,” Joel said, holding out a handgun, “a little more your size?”

A wave of relief washed over her. Ellie smiled, overjoyed that her travelling partner was beginning to trust her. She reached for the weapon, but Joel pulled back. Ellie’s smile wavered, and uncertainty momentarily returned. 

“For emergencies _only_ ,” he stressed, before letting her take the gun.

* * *

It had been a few days since Jackson. Ellie and Joel, after their fight in the farmhouse, were now growing closer than before. Joel was opening up to her, and she was glad. The extra communication not only made things less uncomfortable, but it made their (now rare) skirmishes with hunters and infected move much more smoothly. 

They were on the back of Callus, a horse they’d been given by Joel’s brother. Ellie had named him, much to Joel’s chagrin. Joel sat in front to more easily control the horse, and Ellie was in rear, holding tight to the swell of the saddle. Joel was in the midst of explaining old sports rules to her. He’d been something of a football fan before the outbreak, and to her, it was very interesting to learn what people who didn’t have to be constantly on the run did for fun. She listened intently, trying to understand these strange and complex guidelines.

About an hour or two into learning the rules of football, Ellie saw movement along the treeline at the side of the road. She kept quiet-- out here in the woods, it was usually just an animal, and not a human. However, all too soon, a familiar figure emerged from the brush.

She was about twenty feet away this time, closer than she’d ever been before, but Ellie still couldn’t recognize her face. It was as if there was a thin fog about her features, preventing Ellie from discerning who it actually was. She stood, her right hand on the tree, her left arm hanging limply, staring at the two of them. Ellie opened her mouth to say something about the figure, but just as before, the woman was gone. Ellie sat there, zoned out, thinking about the woman.

Was she real? Or just a product of Ellie’s malnourished, probably traumatized mind? She’d saved Joel’s life once before, at least one time that Ellie had seen, so she had to be _somewhat_ real. If she was real, why was she following them?

“You okay, Ellie?” Joel asked, shaking Ellie from her thoughts.

“Huh?” she asked, taking a second to come back to reality.

“You seem a little distracted, kid. Are you alright?” he asked. Ellie nodded, then realized he couldn’t see her nod, and said that she was okay.

“Joel,” she asked, debating whether or not to ask a strange question.

“Hm?” Joel responded, not the vague grunt of a response he’d often used in the past, but an actual, curious inquiry.

“Do you believe in ghosts?” Ellie finally asked, after a pause to deliberate.

Joel thought for a second. Ellie immediately wished she could un-say what she’d said. The longer the pause grew, the more she _knew_ that she’d stepped on some kind of line and upset him, and somehow undone all the friendliness between them. She was about to apologize, but then, he responded.

“I used to,” he confessed. “But it was more of a _hope_ than anything, I think.” He considered his next words carefully. “Sometimes. . .” he said, before trailing off. Ellie knew that they were verging much too close to his daughter, Sarah, a topic that he clearly didn’t want to talk about. He never finished his statement, and Ellie changed subjects.

* * *

Months later, the duo were in Utah. Ellie had been. . . quiet, for one thing. Joel couldn’t imagine what she’d been through with those awful people at the resort, but he was trying his best to distract her from it. He’d taken up the role of “talker” in the group, at first only to help Ellie come out of the shell she’d built up since the winter, but eventually because. . . well, it just felt good to talk to somebody about this. He told Ellie all kinds of stories about him and Tommy in the old days, and even a few about Sarah. Not too many-- that was still a tender area, but a few.

Ellie would smile again, like she used to, while he talked, but after he was finished, she would return to quiet contemplation. When Joel asked if she was okay, she simply said she was just focused on getting to Salt Lake. He knew that wasn’t the whole truth, but didn’t want to press.

One night, as they neared the outskirts of Salt Lake City, the duo made camp in an old house in the suburbs. They cooked some beans in relative silence. Ellie stared at the fire. After he finished eating, Joel put down his can and heard a noise from outside-- something small, definitely not a human (Joel’s hearing had only gotten better with age, and he knew how to tell the difference between people and animals by their footsteps).

He looked out the window to the overgrown grass below, hoping to see a deer, or something that he could draw Ellie’s attention to. _All distractions are good distractions_ , he thought. What he saw instead made his heart leap.

Standing in the grass below, looking up at him, the moon shining on her pale face, was the woman. He knew in an instant who it was, but that was impossible. Joel looked at her, mouth agape, and leaned forward to get a better look. She was smiling-- hurt in her eyes, but smiling-- up at him. Joel wanted to say something to her, but could find no words.

And, just like that, the woman was gone again. Joel blinked in disbelief, but found himself tired. He yawned and looked back to Ellie.

The young girl was staring at him, something like hopeful anticipation in her bright green eyes. Joel waited for her to speak, but she didn’t say anything. As they sat there, watching each other in silence, Joel remembered something.

 _“Do you believe in ghosts?”_ she’d asked, months ago. Joel hadn’t given her a good answer. He cleared his throat, moved closer to the fire, and spoke.

“You up for a story, kiddo?” he asked, and Ellie nodded.

“Back before the outbreak,” Joel started. Ellie’s excitement grew. Any chance to learn about the world before was one she cherished. “Tommy and I were drivin’ down the highway, headin’ home from some job or other. It was real late, and we were both beat to shit.

“We saw another car’s headlights comin’ up in front, and it looked like he was on our side of the road, so Tommy slows down. ‘What kind of asshole drives like that?’ he says to me, and I agreed. We moved over to the ditch on the side of the road to let the jackass drive by us, but he doesn’t. He’s still straight in front of us, and we know he’s not even on the road anymore.

“Now, I’m gettin’ angry. It’d been a long day and I was too tired to put up with that shit, so I reach over and hit the horn. Tommy leans out the window and starts swearin’ at the guy, but he’s not slowin down, and still straight ahead.

“Just as he’s about to hit us, Tommy and I dive out of the truck, and the headlights go straight through it.” By this point in the story, Ellie was staring at Joel in complete bewilderment, eyes and mouth all wide open. Joel saw her expression and chuckled. “Yeah, that’s what we thought! We looked around, but it was just gone.”

“Holy fuck, Joel!” Ellie said, clearly excited by the story. “Did that really happen?”

“Sure did, kiddo,” he said, taking a drink from his flask. “You know, I. . . I used to tell that story to Sarah when we’d go camping.” Ellie’s gaze dropped to the ground. Joel saw, and tried to explain. “Don’t worry,” he said. Ellie looked back up. “I think you two. . . well, I think she’d have liked you, kid.”

Ellie smiled at him, and Joel smiled back. There was a quiet moment between the two of them, sitting in the comment. Ellie thanked Joel, and they put out the fire.

* * *

The return to Jackson had been a bit of an adjustment for Ellie, especially with the tension between her and Joel. She liked to think she was fitting in nicely, but she’d never really fit in before. Every school she’d been to, she’d been kicked from for fighting. It was, perhaps, the first time in her life she was settled down in one place.

She’d spent the day at what passed for a post-apocalyptic school getting to know another girl named Dina, and had made it back to her and Joel’s home, exhausted from the day of socializing. Joel wasn’t in the living room to greet her, nor was he in the kitchen. The bathroom was empty.

She called for him, but the old man didn’t respond. Ellie sighed, partly relieved that they didn’t have to have another awkward interaction. Things had been so tense since their talk after Salt Lake. _Maybe he’s just asleep_ , she thought. She tossed her bag onto her bed and knocked on Joel’s door. It slowly creaked open, and inside, she saw him curled up on his bed, asleep. He wasn’t alone.

Ellie nearly screamed, stopping herself when she saw the face of the intruder. It was one she’d seen many times before, wearing a short-sleeved button up, a headband, and sturdy jeans. This time, however, Ellie could recognize (or was allowed to recognize) the woman.

It was Tess, Joel’s old partner. She sat on the bed next to Joel’s sleeping body, looking down at him. Her expression was one of bittersweet acceptance. After a moment, she looked up at Ellie. A smile appeared on Tess’ face. She held up a finger, as if to shush Ellie, and then, was gone.

Ellie stood in the doorway, processing what had happened. Joel stirred, and sat up. He looked at Ellie and yawned. “Hey, baby girl,” he said, blinking. “Musta slept all day, huh?” he said, squeezing out a chuckle. When he saw her expression, his half-hearted smile vanished, replaced with a look of concern. “You alright, kiddo?”

Ellie nodded, unable to explain what she’d seen. Would he even believe her if she told him? So instead, she simply said hello and asked how his day was.

“I just had a real good dream,” Joel said. “But you don’t wanna hear about that, huh? Let’s see about dinner, kiddo.”

**Author's Note:**

> special thanks to my friend victoria (@chzu) for helping me beta read this!! if you got all this way, thank you so much for reading and i hope you've enjoyed my little story!!


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